Sandy Ryan with her WBO welterweight title after defending it with a fourth round stoppage of Terri Harper on March 23, 2024 in Sheffield, England. (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)
Tonight’s WBO welterweight title fight between defending champion Sandy Ryan and challenger Mikaela Mayer is one of the best fights of the year in women’s boxing. Not that you’d know it, with all the talk about the bad blood over Ryan working with Mayer’s longtime (and now former) trainer, Kay Koroma.
To be fair, it overshadowed a big fight at Madison Square Garden’s theater, but Ryan is determined not to let that outside noise distract her when it matters.
“There are two great fighters, a massive fight, taking place in New York City at Madison Square Garden; it doesn’t need more than that,” Ryan said. “And for certain fights, I believe you just have to be quiet, and you just have to put in the work and show up on fight night, because it will affect your opponent even more, what he’s doing. My silence hurts a lot of people.”
Ryan (7-1-1, 3 KOs) has never been one for long periods of trash talk or all the pomp and pageantry that comes with boxing at the elite level. She is there to fight, and has been since turning pro after an impressive amateur career. And whatever sacrifices the 31-year-old from Derby, England, has had to make to get to this point in her career – most recently moving to Las Vegas to train – she will do it.
“I used to travel the world when I was an amateur, when I was on (Team) GB,” she said. “For me it’s easy to get away from home because I have a job to do. So it allows me to focus and really lock in on what I need to do because I don’t have any other errands to run. When I’m back at home, it’s do this, do that, go here, go there. Here, I train, I come back to the apartment, I rest, I go again. I think it’s perfect. Especially at the elite level like this, you have to make certain sacrifices, and that’s what I do. For me, it is good to come to America to train. It definitely takes me out of my comfort zone, and that’s what you need. You can’t be in your comfort zone because you’re never going to progress and succeed in what you want to do.”
As for the Vegas heat, Ryan is not a fan.
“Oh, the heat is terrible,” she said. “I’m in Portugal a lot and it’s hot there, but it’s just dry heat and it’s not nice at all. I don’t really stay out as long as I should. Although (primary trainer Emanuel) Flick (Savoy) had me doing sprints in the heat afternoon, and that’s just another level. But yeah, I don’t like the Vegas heat.”
At least fall has arrived in New York City, with a high of 72 forecast for Friday. And hot or not, a win over Mayer (19-2, 5 KOs), a member of the 2016 U.S. Olympic team and a former junior lightweight and interim lightweight champion as a pro, would be the biggest of Ryan’s career be. But she’s been fighting killers long before she got this headlining gig in New York City, a philosophy that may not have always worked out but earned her the respect of peers and experts.
“I’ve always been one to take on a challenge and not back down from anything,” says Ryan, who is rated as no. 2 by THE RING at 147 pounds. “So every fighter I was offered to fight, I immediately said yes. And that’s probably why I’m such an easy fighter to deal with. Sometimes I probably have to hold back. But I’ll take any opportunity they put in front of me. The person that I am, I like a challenge, and also to challenge myself.”
The proof is on her BoxRec page. In just her fourth pro fight, she faced longtime member of THE RING’s pound-for-pound roster, Erica Farias, losing a controversial 10-round split decision in March 2022. Five months later, she avenged the loss, then finished the year with a victory over another former world champion in Anahi Ester Sanchez.
In 2023, Ryan won the vacant WBO title by defeating Marie Pier House. Then it was another controversial ruling, this one tied in Orlando, Florida, with another former pound-for-pound list staple in Jessica McCaskill. But in March this year, the Derbyshire native took the judges out of it when she stopped Terri Harper in just four rounds. This Friday she is a Brit fighting an American in the United States. Will she look again to prevent the fight from going to the scorecards?
“It was definitely in the back of my mind,” she said of her mindset going into the Harper fight. “This will be my second time fighting in America and I am grateful. I love fighting here. The first time I believe I made a lot of fans, a lot of supporters who still follow me now, which is nice. But of course I come into her backyard. I’m English, she’s American, and yes, it (for the ending) is always in the back of my mind.”
That’s winning. So does retaining her title. So is making a life for herself that didn’t seem possible growing up, especially after only nine professional fights.
“No, I didn’t think I’d do it on my 10th fight, but everything happened for a reason and I’m here,” says Ryan. “I come from a background that many people don’t know about. I come from nothing, I had to work my way here, nothing was given to me. It’s all hard work. So yeah, I didn’t expect to be here so early, but I worked hard to get myself here. And I don’t want to stay the rest of my life where I was, where I grew up. I want a better life for myself, for my future family. That’s my mindset right now. My purpose, it runs deep. I have people I do this for, and for my future. It’s what keeps me going every day at camp. I’m here on my own, on the other side of the world, no friends, no family. It gets lonely, but things like this keep me going.”
